The 30th Hunger Games
by iluviggyhesthebest
Summary: Kayleen Princeton is a 13 year old girl from District 12, and the Hunger Games have rolled around. Where 2 tributes from each district fight to the death, until one remains. A victor. Kayleen, in an attempt to save her older sister, goes into the Games and hopes to make it home. But there are 23 other kids who want the same thing, and it's not going to be easy.
1. Introduction

"Kayleen!" My mother calls.

"Be there in a minute!" I call back. I turn my attention back to my older sister, Shayla, who is pulling back her arm, ready to throw the knife in her hand.

"Shhhh…." She whispers, as a rabbit comes into view.

3….2…1! Shayla throws the knife with deadly accuracy, hitting the rabbit right in the eye, killing it instantly.

"Girls! C'mon, your father will be home soon, you know how tired he gets," called my mother.

"We're coming Mom," yelled back Shayla.

She ran over to the rabbit, pulling out the knife and stuffed it in a bag, along with some edible plants we had picked earlier.

Laughing, we ran away from the woods and back into our district, sneaking under the 20 foot tall "electric fence", where my mother waits.

"Shayla, Kayleen!" My mother scolds. "You were supposed to meet me here 20 minutes ago!"

Shayla rolled her eyes. "We got a rabbit, we had to wait for it to come into our trap."

My mother shakes her head. "Let's just go home."

When we got home, my mother immediately started to boil water. I grabbed the root and cleaned and cut them up. I did the same with the rabbit.

Cooking is the only thing Shayla can't do. Luckily I can, so we leave dinner up to Mom and I.

I put the rabbit and roots into the boiling pot just as my father comes through the door. He works as a coal miner part time, full time would be 18 hours a day, but he still works 8 hours a day except Sundays and it exhausts him.

"Hey Dad!" Shayla smiles. He smiles back and ruffles her hair.

"How's my little girl?"

She pushes his hands away but she's laughing. "Kay's the little girl!" That's my nickname, by the way. Nobody calls me Kayleen except for my Mom and my teachers.

"I'm 18!" Shayla protests.

His face darkens. "Then tomorrow's a scary day for all of us."

Tomorrow is the 30th Hunger Games. You know, where they take 2 kids, a girl and a boy from each district and make them fight to the death. It's ages 12-18, so this is Shayla's last year. And my second year, I'm 13.

We're all scared that Shayla will get picked. She gets tesserae a lot, she won't let me get any though so while her name is in 47 times, mine is in only twice.

We need her. We would starve without her, the small amount my dad gets paid would not support a family of 3. And I'm not as good at hunting either. I can hit the target, but only if I'm closer than 15 feet. And in the Games, that's basically worthless.

The Games are already a death trap here. District 12, we're the poorest District. We've only had one victor, and her name is Summer Underwood. She was a volunteer, she won at 17 years old.

We eat dinner in silence. Shayla tries to start a conversation but it just dies out quickly. That night when we go to bed, I hear my parents crying in the other room. The odds are not in Shayla's favor this year.

Shayla hears them too and frowns.

"Shayla, what if-" I blurt out but she shushes me.

"Kay, I won't get called, okay? And neither will you. And even if I do…. You guys will be fine." Shayla sounds incredible sad.

She has to know that we need her to survive. But before I can say anything, she has turned over with her back facing me, and she goes to sleep.

After a few minutes, I drift off, but it is not a peaceful sleep.

In my nightmare, I am called and Shayla volunteers. She goes to the Hunger Games and makes it to the finale but in the finale she is tied to a tree and brutally murdered by a boy from District 1.

I wake up screaming. "SHAYLA!"

Immediately she is up and shaking me gently. "Kay what's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare," I gasp out. "About the Games."

Shayla gives me a hug. "It's all right Kay, after this reaping you won't have to think about it for a year."

I hug her back, grateful for my older sister. "Thanks Shayla."

She smiles. "C'mon let's go eat breakfast it's 10:00 AM already and the reaping is at 1:00."

I nod and go downstairs. On Reaping Day, my mother always makes us a special breakfast. When we enter the kitchen we see that she has made pancakes out of the tesserae grain and our father is already eating.

"Good morning Dad," we recite together.

He smiles. "Good morning."

My mother smiles at me and Shayla. "Eat up, we want to have time to get ready."

She puts four pancakes in front of each of us.

"Don't have to tell me twice," I thought and smiled, tearing into a tesserae pancake. They were actually decent.

After breakfast, Shayla takes a shower and then I do. It's not a real shower, it's just a giant basin filled with warm water.

Then I go to our room, where Shayla has laid out one of her old dresses for me. It's chocolate colored with silver sparkles all over the skirt part.

I put it on, comb my hair, put the matching brown ribbon in my hair, and I'm all set. Although I don't exactly like dresses, I can't help but smile at my reflection in the mirror.

The sparkles in the dress bring out the sparkles in my velvety silvery brown eyes. My light brown hair falls in waves on my back and bounces when I walk.

I head into the family room, where my mother and father are. They gasp.

"Kayleen, you look beautiful," smiles my mother, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.

"Thanks Mom," I smile back at her. She checks her watch.

"Oh goodness, it's 12:25, it takes 15 minutes to get to the square! Weren't you going to walk with your friend? Hurry up and go! We'll be there in a few minutes."

I nod as my parents practically push me out the door. I walk to my best friend May's house which takes about 5 minutes.

May and Kay. Everyone always laughs because our names rhyme, but May thinks it's cute. We've been best friends since Pre K and that will never change.


	2. Damn it Savanna, you had to die!

I knock on the door. May answers it, in a light blue dress that brings out the sparkle in her blue eyes. Her shoulder length blonde hair has been curled so that it falls at her chin.

She grins and hugs me. "Kay! You look great!"

I smile back. "Thanks! You look great too!  
"Mom we're leaving!" May yelled back into her house.

"Okay, we'll be there soon, don't want to miss the reaping," her mom called back.

She smiled at me. "Let's go Kay, or we'll be late."

I nod in agreement and we walk there as quickly as we can. When we get there, May checks her watch.

"12:49,"she reports successfully.

I point over to the place where they check you in. "Let's go over there."

"Oww…" I wince softly as they prick my finger with a needle and rub my blood on some special paper.

"NEXT!" hollers the man, ignoring my pain.

May comes from my left. "All right, where do we stand?" She looks around.

Then I see the spot where all the other 13 year old girls are standing.

"May, over there." I point in their direction.

She nods. "Hey Lashandra!" She yells, waving excitedly.

The popular girl in our class glares at May. We don't like her and we never will, but May enjoys teasing her, especially in front of her "popular friends."

The time is now 12:56.

"Excuse me," coughs Mayor Lutwick. "I will now say the history of the Hunger Games."

Then he rambles on about how we rebelled and District 13 was destroyed and the Hunger Games keep the Districts in line.

"Now to pick our tributes," he announces leaving the stage and welcoming our Capitol escort, the happy, bubbly, Kilee O'Neal.

"Happy Hunger Games!" She chirps in her freaky Capitol accent. "And may the odds be **EVER** in your favor. First I shall select a girl tribute." And she walks over to the bowl with the girl's names in it.

"Oh god, please not Shayla," I think. "Please no."

"Our tribute is," she pauses for dramatic effect. "Savanna Williams!"

"Thank god!" I think, relieved.

Nobody speaks. Nobody moves.

"Savanna? You out there?" Kilee repeats.

The mayor goes out and whispers something in her ear.

She frowns. "Oh my, that's rather dreadful."

"It seems that Savanna Williams has passed, this very morning, from a rare disease," Kilee announces sadly.

"So I will pick again."

I had no time to pray before the name was spoken.

**_"Shayla Princeton."_**


	3. I volunteer as tribute-duh

May gasps and turns to me. "Kay, I'm so sorry, I-"

"NOOOOO!" I scream. Shayla has almost reached the stage. Although she is trying to look tough and defiant, I can see the fear in her eyes.

_We need her. My family needs_ _her._

I don't think, I just act. "I VOLUNTEER!" I scream as loud as I can. "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"

The crowd gasps. I'm pretty sure this is the second time they've had a volunteer, the first being Summer, of course.

Kilee on the other hand, looks thrilled. "A volunteer!" She squeaks as Shayla is dragged off the stage and I walk on.

"Kay, Noooo!" Shayla is screaming but I know I have done the right thing.

"Why'd you volunteer?" Kilee asks, her eyes full of wonder.

Every person in the Hunger Games needs a personality. Should I be nice? Cocky? Rude?

"Well that was my sister," I smile. "And I'd like to think I've got a bigger chance of winning than her."

Kilee looks impressed. "What's your name volunteer?"

"My name is Kayleen Princeton, and I will win the Hunger Games," I say, sounding confident.

She smiles. "Well this has been exciting. Let's give it up for Kayleen everybody!"

Nobody claps. I heard May and Shayla sobbing but I look at my parents and all I see is relief. That Shayla didn't have to compete…..

"Well! Tough crowd. Moving on to the boy…" Kilee muses. "Ah! Jenik Flowst, come up here darling!"

A tough boy who looks to be sixteen comes up. He looks mad and annoyed but not scared. I should consider him a potential threat.

"Alright, your two tributes from District 12, Kayleen and Jenik!"

People clap this time, but not very wholeheartedly.

"Come now," Kilee says to us and Peacekeepers lead us to the Justice Building.

They lead me to a room, big enough for six people.

"Your family, they'll be here in a minute," he says gruffly.

I nod. "Thank you." He shrugs and walks away just as my sister bursts in, sobbing.

"Shayla," I say softly as she hugs me.

"Kay, you….you…you idiot! What were you thinking? Why did you volunteer?" She demands of me, tears falling down her cheeks.

"We need you," I say softly. "If anyone's going to die in The Games, it's going to be me."

She lets out a sob at that. "No Kay, You can win the Games. You're good with a knife."

I shake my head. "Only at close range. I probably don't stand a chance against trained Careers."

She shakes me a little. "Don't say that! Kay I know you, and I love you more than anything, even our parents. After what happened to Cammy, I know I can't lose you. You are going to go out there and win, okay? Do it for me."

At the mention of Cammy I choke up. But I can't cry, I'll look weak.

"Okay I'll try Shay," calling her by her nickname. I hardly ever use it.

A Peacekeeper sticks his head in. "3 minutes are almost up, say goodbye."

Shayla hugs me again. "You can win," she tells me. "I know you can."

I nod. Then Shayla is pulled out by a Peacekeeper.

I sit alone for a few seconds before May bursts in, her makeup running, smearing her whole face. She looks like a mess.

"Oh Kay! Why did you do that? You can't die, we're best friends, I love you! Not in a weird way of course, that would be wrong…. Anyway you can't leave!"

I frown, trying hard not to cry. "I'm so sorry May."

She only cries harder. "I don't get why you would sacrifice yourself. I know you love Shayla but I value my own life. Why don't you value yours?"

I sigh. "Without Shayla we would all starve to death anyway. I'm not great at hunting."

She wipes tears out of her eyes. "Okay but….. take this." And she hands me something.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Shayla told me to give it to you. It's a locket."

I opened the middle. Inside were three pictures, one of me and Shayla, one with me and May, and one with just my parents. No me.

I close it and fasten it around my neck. "Thanks May."

She nods. "Just know, while you're in The Games…. We're rooting for you."

I smile, my eyes brimming with tears. "Thanks so much May."

She gives me a little smile and then she has to leave.

Then I'm alone. I wait for a minute. Two minutes. Where are my parents?

Finally, after 15 minutes someone knocks on the door.

"Finally," I sigh out loud and open the door.

I was expecting my parents. But the person who is standing there is no other than Summer Underwood herself.

The winner of the 24th Hunger Games stands in front of me.

"Wow, umm,…" I stammer.

She smiles. "Expecting someone else?"

"Yes," I sigh. "My parents."

She looks surprised. "They didn't come?"

I shake my head no.

"That's odd… sorry but we have to leave." Summer grabs me by the arm and pulls me away from that room.

**_I may never see my parents again._**

**_Hey guys!_**

**_So this is Kate. Wassup?_**

**_I hope you like my story. If you definitely predicted that Kay was going to volunteer, you're a genius. Have a cookie. It's homemade. Chocolate chip._**

**_Anyway so Jenik? Best name ever, we call him Nik._**

**_If you have any predictions about people, acting towards one another or whatever, please leave a comment. And maybe what you think will come true._**

**_Okay so what do you think her parents think of:_**

**_Shayla?_**

**_Kayleen?_**

**_And can anyone guess who Cammy is?_**

**_Thanks for reading!_**

**_kATE_**


	4. Moping about my life right now

I want to cry, but I cannot. I simply let the Peacekeepers push me towards the train and I get on.

Inside, a buffet of food awaits. I gap. This food would serve my entire family for a week. And I think it's only the first course.

"Sit down Kayleen," invites Kilee.

I nod and sit next to the boy tribute, Jenik. He looked tough before but now he is trying hard not to cry. I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but I gently pat his back. I hate to see suffering.

Luckily, he smiles gratefully at me and starts the soup. Next to me are some things made of metal, and in front of me is a soup in a bowl.

I pick up one of the metal objects that has a long handle with a half circle at the end. I stick it in my soup, and sure enough, the soup stays in the half circle when I pull it out.

I drink the soup, smiling at it's wonderful fresh taste.

"Excuse me!" I say to one of the servers.

He comes over.

"Umm… what is this soup made out of it's just delicious!" I smile at him.

He stares back at me, not saying anything.

"Kayleen! That server is an Avox! And you shouldn't be speaking with the servers anyway," scolds Kilee.

"What's an Avox?" I ask, feeling dumb.

Summer rolls her eyes. "An Avox is a person who is a traitor or a rebel, they have had their tongue cut out so they cannot speak."

"Oh," I reply softly. I look at the person again. The awkward way they swallow. The pained, frightened look in his eyes. He had lost his tongue. It was probably painful.

I turn back to my soup. Now I'll never know what that soup was made out of….

Through the rest of the amazing meal, Kilee makes small talk with me and Jenik, asking about our hobbies, siblings, stuff like that.

But I just focus on the food really. Duck breast with a honey sauce, salad covered in blackberry dressing, a cake made out of coffee, which I grow a liking for, and lamb stew, with dried fruit in it. It's so amazing, I ask for seconds even though I've already had too much to eat, and I don't get denied. The final course is simple, it is a creamy white thing on top of a piece of bread made crispy and shaped like a traffic cone. I look at it in confusion.

Meanwhile, Jenik has picked his up by the cone part.

"My mom told me about these, it's called an ice cream cone, you pick it up by the cone and you lick the ice cream," he whispers to me.

I smile my thanks and follow his lead, picking up the cone and licking the ice cream. It's delicious, and I lick till all that's left is the cone.

Jenik has eaten his cone.

"Don't worry, it's edible and tasty, too." He smiles at me. I bite into it and a sweet taste fills my mouth. I bite again. It tastes very good,

"I'm a bit of a cook myself, my Mother's father is the baker, his name is Plutarch Mellark. So he taught me a few things, and my mom did too, and I taught myself some things on my own," Jenik smiles at me.

_Why is he being nice to me?_

"Umm… I'm a bit of a cook myself as well," I laugh awkwardly. "My sister Shayla can do everything except cook, so that's up to me and my mom, and she doesn't know what she's doing, so…. Basically just me."

He nods sympathetically. "I heard that your parents didn't come visit you."

I smile bitterly. "Where did you hear that?"

He smiles. "The walls aren't that thick, I could hear you say that your parents didn't come."

"Oh." I seem to be saying that a lot now.

He nods. "Yeah well for the Games, you remind me a lot of my younger sister, she's only 9 but you guys act alike, her name is Odessa. You want to be… allies, I could never kill you I don't know how I could kill anyone actually."

I smile. "Odessa. That's a pretty name. And I need all the help I can get. So yeah, let's be allies."

We shook hands under the table while Kilee chatted with Summer, who yawned and looked bored the whole time.

"Tributes!" Smiled Kilee, talking in her annoying Capitol accent. "You should go to bed soon, you can take showers, then you'll find nightclothes in your dressers. Tomorrow's a big big day!"

"Okay sure, see you tomorrow Jenik," I quickly smiled at him. Then I went to my room, with its customized shower, giant fluffy bed, and endless supply of clothes. I didn't feel better or comforted. I took a long hot shower, crying the whole time.

I could never kill anyone. And an alliance…. The more I get to know someone, the harder they will be to kill. I don't want to kill anyone…. Maybe I could get through the whole Hunger Games with no kills. The last death could be the 2nd and 3rd place tributes killing each other at exactly the same time, maybe. But what about Jenik and Odessa?

_"But what about May and Shayla?"_ I thought to myself. Jenik would have to die if I wanted to get home.

But as I put on my fluffy pajamas and slid into my warm fluffy bed, luxuries I had never experience before, I vowed that I would not be the one to kill him.

_**Hey Guys!**_

_**So I'm here again! Soon we'll be getting to the actual games, and you guys can vote on allies and stuff, and who you want you die first and stuff. But until then, review and give your opinions about every character!**_

_**Although the Hunger Games idea is mine, I own every character written so far. There will be one character(hint: the host of the Hunger Games) that was in the Hunger Games but besides that, they are all mine. Including President Snow's father, the President, also named President Snow. : D**_

_**So hope you guy are enjoying this I'll try to update more often!**_

_**And thanks to princessanastasiaromanov464 and maximumrider99 for reviewing.**_

_**Kate**_


	5. On the train to inevitable death

….

"Kayleen! Wake up, it's a big big day!" Called Kilee through my door in that annoying accent.

"I'm up," I call back.

"All right, get dressed sweetie, something nice, please?" And then she left.

I checked my drawers and found everything from fancy dresses to old fashioned "t-shirts." I put on a short black skirt that barely covered my thighs, and a small lavender shirt that stopped before the skirt started. I then put on some makeup, just some black lipstick so that my lips are black.

I'm going for dangerous. I know a skirt doesn't scream "dangerous" or maybe it does to you, but I needed to look pretty but also look like a moderate threat. I will not go down in the Bloodbath.

I open my door, and go down the hall to brush my teeth. When I finally am finished and go to the food car, I see pancakes, made with real flour not tesserae, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, ham, and dozens of other breakfast foods.

"Can I serve myself?" I ask the Avox. He nods, so I take a plate and load it with toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, ham, waffles, and pancakes. I also grab a cup of coffee, or at least I thought it was coffee but when I put in my mouth, it tasted sweeter.

I took another sip.

"Mmmm…" pleasure escaped my mouth.

"That would be called 'hot chocolate'", Summer smiled gently at me.

"Well it's awesome," I smile at her.

She nods. "When I first came here, for my interview in the games, Caesar, he was new that year asked me what I liked the most about coming to the Games and I said-"

"The hot chocolate," we recited together.

Then she laughed, so I did, too. She reminds me of Shayla a little.

"So it will probably take us another day to get to the Capitol, in the meantime, we can discuss strategy and things like that," says Summer, as Jenik walks in.

He smiles. "Sounds good to me."

Once we have gotten comfortable on the velvety couch with hot chocolate in hand, Summer stares at us. I feel a little awkward as she studies us.

"Well, you guys are decently strong, nice muscles, you're pretty good looking, especially Kayleen, but what are your strengths? You can't rely all on brute force or sponsors. You need to know how to take care of yourselves," Summer tells us.

Jenik nods at me to go first.

"Umm…is this place bugged?" I ask quietly.

Summer smiles. "Nope, you can curse at the Capitol all you want."

Jenik laughs.

"Actually, it's just something illegal I'm about to say so I don't need to get arrested. As you can see, I have bigger problems," I tell the two.

They nod at me, letting me go on.

"Well…" I start reluctantly.

"My sister and I, we hunt in the woods. It's not legal, but the fence is easy to go under it's never charged. I'm decent with a knife, better at close range, though. I'm pretty strong, I know how to skin, clean, and cook animals and plants and which animals and plants are good to eat. That's it…" My voice trails off.

"Well that's more than me." For the first time since the reaping, Jenik sounds worried. "I'm strong, but besides that I don't really know anything."

Summer looks at me approvingly. "I knew less than you when I went into the Games, and that was after we trained."

Then she turned to Jenik. "You'll have to work on some skills, then. Learn which plants are poisonous, how to make a fire, and things like that. But don't completely disregard weapons. Try a hammer, you look like you could take it."

Jenik nods. Then Kilee comes in.

"Oh! Tributes, I see you're talking with your lovely mentor," she smiles at us.

"Yep," I say. "Oh, I forgot. Summer?"

She looked at me. "Yes Kayleen?"

"Well, Jenik and I, we're going to form an alliance and I don't know about the other tributes but I think we'll try to find another one if we can, to be our ally," I tell her. Jenik nods his approval.

"All right, but I'm not going to sugarcoat this," Summer says. "In the Games, there will be only one victor. When you make an alliance, you must know that either you will kill the others in your alliance, they will be killed by someone else, they will kill you, or you will all be killed."

I nod. "Well, that's the Games."

Summer smiles a little. "Yes."

Jenik nods as well. He looks strong. He looks like a Victor.

_"__Kay, you must be the Victor, though," _I tell myself.

Hopefully someone else kills Jenik so I don't have to.

…

There's nothing much to do on the train besides eat. While I'm not eating, I head to the back of the train to look out the back, which is clear colored, because I like watching nature roll by.

I hear footsteps behind me. There's only one person who could have come after me.

"Hey Jenik," I say without turning around.

"How'd you know I was here?" Asked Jenik. I turned around.

"I can hear your footsteps. Besides, why would Summer or Kilee come here to talk to me?" I roll my eyes at him.

"Well, since we're going to be allies, I thought that I should know some more about you," he smiles at me.

_Is he kidding right now?_

"Are you kidding?" I ask aloud. He looks surprised.

"No."

"The more I get to know you, and the more you get to know me, the harder it will be to kill each other or watch each other die. Either we both die, or one of us dies, and it would hurt too much for the other, I'm sorry Jenik," I pause for breath.

"I just don't want to hurt you, and I'm sure you don't want to hurt me."

Then I turn away.

But Jenik persists.

"Kay, that's your nickname, right?"

I nod, sighing. He won't give this up, will he?

"So Kay, your parents didn't come, are they mad at you or something?"

I shake my head. "No, they were just glad that I volunteered, I guess. Didn't bother coming…" And the first tear comes out.

He looks shocked. "Their daughter volunteered to…. Die, basically! Why would they be glad?"

"Well I saved Shayla, my sister. They always liked her best," I say, sounding hollow. Two more tears.

"You shouldn't like one child over the other. They seem awful," Jenik looks angry now.

"Well Shayla was perfect, and I'm just me," on the last word, my voice breaks and I burst into tears.

_My parents don't love me. At least not as much as they love Shayla._

The truth hurt so much.

I just sat there and let Jenik hug me, and I knew that I had to win more than ever. So I could go home to my parents, spit on them, tell them they sucked, and then go live in the Victor's Village with Summer and Shayla.

_Shayla, I will come back. I'm sorry Jenik, but you're going down. Along with the other 22 tributes._

**_: O_**

**_Who saw that coming?_**

**_Her parents are mean and like Shayla over Kayleen. Don't worry, Shayla will beat them up about it next chapter. Not literally though. Unfortunately. So anyway if you saw that coming, have some bacon, or for you VEGETARIANS('cough' Joey 'cough'), you can have some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Any comments, or random words, feel free to write them in a review or PM me. I check my fan fiction account a lot so I'll probably get back to you after no more than a day._**

**_Review! And I hope you enjoy!_**

**_Kate_**


	6. My parents are asses when I'm not there

SHAYLA'S POV

I had a problem. A problem that started when I got called to compete in the Hunger Games, and my little sister volunteered. Kayleen is only 13. I'm 18. Why would she do that?

I can only assume she was thinking that I was the only one that could take care of the family. But she's wrong. I can't cook, Mom's not great either. Mom pretends she can, but I know it's all Kay.

She acted all tough, walking onto the stage. While I screamed and cried, as did May, one of her best friends. Her other best friend, Rory, had a huge crush on her but he never told her…. Now it's too late. Later when I went to see her, I told her she could win. She doubted it. I knew she could, she was capable of more than she thought. But could she really kill people? Other kids?

That I doubted. But maybe she could. My parents didn't even go to visit her, I asked why.

"She would get too upset and emotional. And it's not like we care that much." That was their terrible excuse for not seeing their youngest daughter.

"But she's your daughter," I insist, not getting it. Then their next words hit me like a ton of bricks.

**_So? You're better than her anyway, she was always disappointing. We're so relieved that she volunteered._**

I gasp, and feel as though someone had punched me in the stomach. "What?"

My mom rolls her eyes. "We're better off without that annoying little b****. She was just an extra mouth to feed."

"How dare you!" I scream at her. "That's my sister, your daughter!"

My dad groans. "One of the worst mistakes we ever made. We should have just stopped after you."

I look at both of them. They seemed so innocent before….. how had I never noticed? When I heard them crying last night, I thought they were worried about both of us but it was just the fear of losing me. They smiled when Kay volunteered, I just realized that! Kay has to make it back, so that I can tell her she's perfect to me, and we can live in the Victor's Village, away from my parents.

I'm not the perfect amazing girl my parents think I am. Kay is.

BACK TO KAYLEEN POV

After I finished crying, I was a little embarrassed.

"Oh thanks, Nik," I sniffed, rubbing my nose on my shirt sleeve.

He smiled. "You're welcome. And I guess you can call me Nik."

I finally realize the time. "Oh wow! It's 9:30 already, let's eat some dessert then go to bed."

He nods in agreement. "Sounds good to me. Want some ice cream?"

I nod happily and we go and get brown ice cream this time, on a white cone.

In my opinion, its even better than the white ice cream. Finally, I have to go to bed. And so does Jenik.

"Good night Nik," I smile at him.

He smiles back. "Good night Kay."

And I go to my room, undressing and showering. After a five minute shower, I step on a panel that instantly combs and blow dries my hair at the same time.

My milk chocolate curls fall a little below my shoulders. I put on a giant red shirt and velvety black pants and go to sleep.


	7. My game strategy

"Wake up, wake up! We're getting close to the Capitol!" Kilee.

"I'm getting up!" I shouted back at her.

"Well, we will arrive in the Capitol in 1 hour and 20 minutes, so dress and eat quickly." And then she leaves.

"Ugh," I sigh and stretch out on my bed.

Reluctantly, I get up and look in my drawers and find a dress that I like. It is lined across on the waist, giving it an "apron" look, with red and black diagonal stripes across the bottom of the line, and pure red on the top, with a small black poofy feather on one shoulder, with a matching red and black diagonally striped hat, and black high heels. I put on the dress, applying red lip gloss and black eye shadow, as well as brushing my hair over my shoulder onto the shoulder that does not have the small black feather on it.

After 40 minutes, I come out, all ready.

When I get to the dining car, I strike a pose.

"How do I look?" I grin at Summer, who looks at me up and down.

Kilee claps her hands in delight. "Kayleen darling, You look absolutely gorgeous, they are going to love you, I'm sure of it!"

I smile at her as Nik raises his eyebrows.

"Very fancy," he finally says. He is wearing a formal black shirt, with flaming orange pants that look like they are really on fire.

I grab a plate, some eggs, some meat, some extra bacon, some pancakes, and then sit down.

"So when are we arriving?" I ask Summer.

She checks her watch. "About 5-10 minutes."

I nod and quickly finish just in time.

As I turn, the Capitol comes into view.

"Whoa…." Nik and I say together. It takes my breath away, it's just amazing.

Then I can make out people as we get closer. Weird Capitol people dressed in odd outfits.

Whatever. They're probably sponsors.

Smiling, I wave and hear "Kayleen! Kayleen, you're beautiful! We love you Kayleen!"

I smile, blow kisses, and wink at everyone. One teenage guy actually faints when I wink at him!

When we pull into the station, I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Summer, where are we going?" I ask. She has already started moving.

"To your room, we're on the top floor," she says without turning around and we take the elevator up. I've never taken an elevator before. It's kinda cool.

Our apartment is a whole floor, with food and our own rooms and all that fancy stuff.

I go to my room, and take off the makeup, the dress, the annoying high heels.

Thank god I can change now! Oh I didn't tell you I was going to pretend to be pretty and fashionable? The Capitol loves the pretty tributes. More sponsors is never a bad thing.

I put on a comfy t-shirt that says "THE CAPITOL ROX!"

I find a marker and cross out "ROX!" and put "SUX!" There. That's better.

Then I slip on a pair of black shorts that are comfy.


	8. Finally seeing the competition

When I come back out, Nik is still in his suit. I smile at the uncomfortable looking sight.

"Nik, aren't you going to change?" I ask.

Before he can answer, Kilee cuts in. "Kayleen, what are you wearing?"

I shrug. "Something actually comfy. Why would I wear an itchy, short dress?"

She looks speechless. She probably didn't know it was an act.

"Well Kilee said we should watch the reapings first," Nik says, to answer my original question.

"Okay," I nod and plop down on the couch next to Summer.

"Jenik, Kay, keep track of every tribute. Count nobody out. Everyone is a threat. The finale in my Games was me against someone from District 6, so you never know who could be good," Summer tells us. We nod and watch the screen.

First up is District One:

A girl named Samantha Tucker is called but she is replaced by a volunteer, a tough looking 18 year old girl named Renée.

A 12 year old boy is called and he looks terrified, but surprisingly, nobody volunteers. His name is Kyle.

Next is District Two:

The first girl is called, a sixteen year old girl named Tanya Kula is called and she looks excited but a 14 year old girl volunteers. She looks mean and violent. Her name is Jakei.

Then the boy, the ugliest boy I've ever seen. He is disabled, and rolls his wheelchair up. Someone is about to volunteer, but then I hear "Just let him go, it'll just be easier for Jakei to win," so the boy does not volunteer, and the poor boy, Avon, must go in.

Next is District Three:

The girl's name is called. Sarah. She sobs, and I see she is only 13. Well so am I.

She actually won't move, and the Peacekeepers grab her and carry her as she kicks and screams, but then they point a gun at what must be her mother, and she complies.

The boy is older, he looks to be 17. When his name, Brendan, is called, he pales but walks up to take his place on the stage. They shake hands as Sarah sobs, and Brendan looks uncomfortable.

Then District Four:

A girl of 17 years old is called. She looks happy and nobody volunteers so she looks even happier. Her name is Lydia.

The boy, 15 years old, pales when his name is called. He looks nervously around, probably hoping someone will volunteer, but they don't, and he takes his spot on the stage. His name is Mikael.

District Five:

The girl, 16 years old, faints when her name is called. When she awakes, a few minutes later, she's laying on the stage, waiting for her death. Her name is Verona. I can't help thinking that she's going to be an easy kill.

Then the boy is called. He's handsome, almost six foot, 14 years old, sandy blonde hair. When he name is called, he looks sad and many girls scream in protest. Vanity boy's name is Matthew.

District Six:

Nothing sticks out. The girl sobs, the boy cries, you know, the usual. They look weak and hungry and underfed, and look like they are going to pass out, it's horrible to watch.

District Seven:

The girl sticks out to me. 13 years old, like me, tough look in her eyes. When her name, Skylar, is called, she barely bats an eye and takes her place. She looks strong and I think to enlist her as an ally.

The boy is only 12, he moves forward nervously. He walks up to the stage, very slowly. You can see the tears dripping down his face. His name is Noah. I turn away. It's not something I want to see.

District Eight:

No threat.

District Nine:

No threat.

District Ten:

The scariest things there are the cows.

District Eleven:

The girl is called.

Quota? Why do that name sound-ohhh…

Quota is the daughter of the mayor of District Eleven. She is 15 years old. If she dies….oohhhh…,thats bad.

I can see it in the boy's face. The worry that he will have to kill the mayor's daughter or he will survive while she dies. His name is Rust. He is 16 years old.

Lastly, District Twelve:

You already know what happened.

Then the Capitol symbol flashes, and the screen goes dark.

The Careers don't seem too bad this year, one of them is only twelve years old, another's disabled….I might have a shot. If, you know, the girls from One and Two don't kill me first.

"Well? Any potential threats or allies?" Summer asked Nik and I.

"Yeah, the girl from 7, I want her as an ally," I say quickly.

Summer looks to Nik. "You okay with that?"

He nods slowly. "Yeah, but also the girl from Eleven."

"Quota? Why?" I ask.

He looks at me strangely. "Her dad's the mayor. If either of us win, and we kill his daughter, our lives will be hell. But if we had her in an alliance and tried to protect her a little, maybe he wouldn't hate us as much for her death."

I shake my head. "He might still say that we failed to protect her. I just say Skylar, you, and me."

"I think we should have four," argues Nik. "That way, if we ever have to split up, we have a person with us. Two and two."

I nod, understanding his point. "Okay, but did anyone else look good to you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe Rust, the boy from 11?"

I shrug. "Maybe. Let's see some skills first."

He nods, agreeing with me.

"I'm glad you can agree," Summer smiles at us. "That's the first step in teamwork."

I nod, as does Jenik.

Then an Avox comes in and we eat dinner.

_**Hey guys!**_

_**So there are the tributes for the 30th Hunger Games! The Careers aren't as intimidating this year, but there are other possible threats. See any possible alliances? Careers together? A few together? Keep the wimpy boys with the Careers or no? Any other alliances you have played out in your head? Please review and give me your idea for an alliance, especially Jenik and Kay's alliance. Skylar? Quota? Who do you want?**_

_**So thanks for reading and stuffz!**_

_**Kate .**_


	9. I get to meet my stylists-oh joy

"So, Kayleen, what is your strategy for the Games?" Asks Kilee, trying to make conversation.

"To win," I say shortly, and focus back on my food.

"And Jenik, what about you?" Kilee moves on with an annoyed glare at me. I just shrug back at her.

"Well, I guess I'll just keep Kay alive, or she will literally try and kill me," Nik smiles slightly.

"Well.." mutters Summer.

The rest of the meal is just silence, except for the asking of refills and seconds. It's delicious but I feel weird about what Nik said. Would I kill him if he did a bad job of helping me? It seems cruel…. But the Games are cruel. Just 5 years ago for the first quarter quell, they made us pick who went into the games. It was extremely close, but the girl from 4 won. Her name was Mags.

After dinner, we go to our rooms. I was just standing there, about to part from him and go to my room.

"So I'll see you-" I stopped speaking, surprised when he enveloped me in a tight hug.

"Okay…" I said awkwardly, patting his back.

He looks sheepish and pulls away after 5 seconds. "Sorry, I just felt compelled."

"Okay?" I said questioningly, as he walks away from me, down the hall to his room, leaving me confused and alone.

I went back into my room, showered, and put on pajamas. Then I got into my soft bed and just thought. Tomorrow would be the day we met the stylists and got dressed in clothes representing our District. District 12 is the coal miners-naturally, we look awful and clothed in weird coal outfits.

_"Just… go to sleep. You'll see in the morning," I told myself._

…

"KAYLEEN! YOUR STYLISTS ARE HERE!" Summer yelled. Usually it was Kilee waking me up.

"OKAY!" I yelled back.

And I got up, put on a tie-die shirt, some black pants, put my hair in a ponytail, and ran out of my room and down the hall, where Kilee and Summer stood with 3 weird looking people.

Capitol people. My stylists.

They shrieked when they saw me.

"She's pretty! But so plain," One of them commented. She was young, only about 22 years old.

Another one of them nodded. She was older, maybe in her 40's. "Yes, but we can fix her up."

The third, another lady, was around 35. "Ladies! We forgot to introduce ourselves!"

The youngest one gasped. "Oh no! Here, I'm Clover!"

"I'm Violetta," the oldest one smiled.

"And I'm Rosalie," the last one smiled.

"Come with us and we'll get to work," Violetta practically pushed me toward a room which look like a mini beautician's office.

They sat me in a chair, and immediately let my hair down.

Clover smiled. "Now, your name is Kayleen?"

I nodded. "You can just call me Kay."

Violetta smiled. "Well Kay, can you remove your clothes?"

_I must have heard her wrong._

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Remove your clothes," Clover repeated. They weren't joking.

_**So a little bit of a short chappie!**_

_**But it's 1:30 AM and I'm about to go to bed because I'm tired, so I'm just posting this before I sleep. And I like where it ends, with a little bit of awkward suspense. :D **_

_**So do you like the tributes? Please review guys!**_

_**And how about the stylists? They are all girls to avoid less awkwardness than there has to be, Flavius always struck me as a bit of a perv, since he works on the girl tributes. They all have names of flowers, Clove, Violet, Rose. :D**_

_**Hope you like the story, and of course, R&R guys!**_

_**Kate**_


	10. Capitol people are perverts!

An hour and a whole lot of pain later, I gritted my teeth.

"Okay Kay, this is the last one. Ready?" Rosalie asked.

I nodded reluctantly. "Owww…." I winced as they pulled out the last of my leg hair with a loud RIP.

"Finally done," Clover smiled at me. "Except…."

And they took tweezers, looked at over my body to remove any last pieces of hair, and I felt….a little awkward, as I should.

But then they were done and they looked me over. My arm and leg hair had all been ripped out, my hair had some glop in it that made it soft, and my fingernails were coated in a clear polish.

"I think you're ready for Leif!" Violetta smiled.

I tried to smile. "Okay."

They shrieked with joy. "We'll send her right in," smiled Rosalie.

I sighed as soon as they left and wrapped my towel around me. I had a bad feeling about my stylist. The ones you saw on TV were so genetically altered it was gruesome, and I had a feeling Leif would not be different.

After a few minutes, a lady walked in. She was only about 32, and, though her skin color was light green and she had golden tattoos of leaves all over her body, she actually was very pretty. Her hair was a natural shade of dirty blonde and her eyes were green and piercing, matching her skin.

She smiled at me. "Hello Kay. My name is Leif. I am your stylist." Her voice was quiet, and her Capitol accent was not as strong as the prep team's and Kilee's.

"Hello," I ventured cautiously.

"Would you mind removing your robe for a moment?" She asked me quietly.

Of course. I removed it for a moment, feeling awkward. At least my prep team and stylist were all girls. If one of them was a guy…. That would be awkward.

She studied me for a moment, then nodded. "You may put your robe back on."

And I did.

"Follow me," she invited, starting to walk down the hall.

We sat in some comfy chairs, and Leif pushed a button, immediately bringing food.

I looked at it carefully. I could make out duck, and an orange sauce, but besides that I didn't recognize the ingredients. I picked up my utensil, which was known as a fork. I put some of it on the fork, and placed it in my mouth. Delicious.

Leif smiled a little at me. Then she started speaking.

"So when you go out in these chariots….. you wear something that represents your district," Leif said. I nodded. Common knowledge.

"And every year we dress as coal miners. Unattractive, extremely unattractive," Leif shook her head in disgust. "So we're going to try something a little different."

"Since you and Jenik are both very attractive," she smiled at me, looking over my body. I felt like covering myself more, but all I had was a robe. "We were thinking we would do something that not represents the coal miner, but something that represents the coal."

….

Oh. My. God.

We were naked. Naked in front of who knows how many people were watching this. How many people lived in the Capitol and the Districts.

Jenik and I were naked, covered in coal dust. Over my, umm…. Top part was a black band that stretched around it, a common thing to wear on the arm of a coal miner. On my…. Bottom part was a light, that umm….. oh god.

And I was completely black. How racist was that?

Nervously, I looked at Jenik. He flashed me an uneasy smile, he looked the same as me except that he did not have a band on the top part of him.

We were the worse district. It was awful, I'd rather be dressed as a stupid coal miner than like this! They had already started calling the Districts to go out on their chariots, and reluctantly Jenik and I stepped on ours.

Kilee flashed us a thumbs up but Summer just rolled her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she mouthed at us.

Not like that meant anything.

_**Oh... crap. Poor Kay! Port Nik!**_

_**So in the books, they said that one year the tributes were naked and covered in coal dust. Here it is! I didn't want her to be in a stupid miner costume, and I can't use the flame idea, because that comes 44 years in the future from Cinna, not our stylist Leif.**_

_**So any other suggestions? Still thinking about allies, it would be nice to review and help me out... :D**_

_**And once I get at least ONE more review(i want 15 reviews! :D), I will update ASAP.**_

_**Kate**_


	11. Making some temporary friends

District One, dressed in jewels came out. District One, luxury items. They looked amazing as always, although the boy looks scared.

District Two, dressed like Peacekeepers in an attempt to look scary or something. District Two, masonry but also supplies Peacekeepers. Jakei looks scary but Avon looks like a joke.

District Three, dressed in white lab coats and covered in bright wires. District Three, electronics. The boy actually smiles and waves, but the girl, Sarah right? She just looks terrified and won't wave or acknowledge anyone around her.

District Four, dressed like a mermaid and merman. The girl looks striking, and the boy looks confident, something he did not show at the reaping.

The rest of the Districts merely roll by, even Vanity Boy can't pull off that terrible outfit, until we get to Seven, the lumber district.

Skylar is wearing a light brown dress, with green twisting through it, looking like vines. Her companion is wearing the same thing, except that he is wearing light brown pants and a shirt, not a dress. They actually look decent.

District Eight looks kind of nice, textile district, but Districts Nine and Ten look dumb.

District Eleven, agriculture. Quota is wearing a light blue dress with dark blue suspenders over it. She's also wearing a silver branch as her headpiece. The boy is wearing a light blue shirt and black pants, with dark blue suspenders and a silver branch headpiece. They don't look bad.

Oh god. Us.

"District Twelve!" I hear and then our black horses pull out. Jenik puts out his hand to hold mine, and I look back at him, surprised. Then the roar of the crowd hits me, and I turn away and wave.

I smile as the audience cheers our names.

"Kayleen I love you!" I hear someone shriek. It wasn't a guy. Sadly.

"God these people are perverts!" I mouth at Jenik. He nods.

Our horses circle around and end up at the middle with the others. Our President, the young President Snow, walks up to the mic and says something.

But all I notice are his eyes on me.

"God, what a pervert!" I can't help thinking. All these people are perverts!

He finishes the speech and the Capitol people cheer, and then our horses take us back in.

"You were spectacular!" Kilee smiles in satisfaction as Leif and Jenik's stylist come over to congratulate us. But I'm not in the mood.

As Jenik's stylist giggles in success, and Leif talks enthusiastically with Kilee, I feel someone behind me. I whirl around, and see Skylar.

"Hi," she says softly.

"Hi," I say back.

She gestures to my outfit. "I'm…. sorry."

I laugh a little. "It's okay."

She cocks her head at me. "Do you want to be allies, maybe? I have Noah, but he's not much."

I smile. "Well I have Jenik, but I was thinking about enlisting you anyway."

Her face lights up. "Okay yeah, let's do it."

We shake on it.

"You're Skylar, right?" I ask her.

She nods. "You can call me Sky. You're Kayleen, right?"

I nod. "Just call me Kay."

I nod over at Nik, as Sky nods over Noah.

"Nik, I made a friend," I call to him.

He grins and comes over. Noah, on the other hand, just looks terrified.

Sky tries to calm him, but its not working. I just sigh.

"Don't bother," I tell her.

She shrugs. "Well Noah is my best friend's little brother….. if I win and he dies…."

Oh wow. That really sucked.

"It will be okay," I say quickly. But everyone knows it won't be.

Sky just nods. "Okay, so we're allies?"

I nod. "Let's do this."

**_So we have some backstory! :D_**

**_So its a YOUNG President Cornelius Snow, the second year that he comes into office as the "President". Just wanted to clarify that, and explain my thoughts. Hope you guys enjoy the story, I hope that we can get into the ACTUAL Hunger Games soon._**

**_So we will soon find out who Cammy is, and why Kay's parents are usually mean to her and like Shayla over her._**

**_And thanks to JoannaReads for reviewing and liking my story! :D_**

**_Kate_**


	12. Wondering who Cammy was?

….

"Kayleen! Today is the first training day!" I hear Kilee's sing-song voice come through my door. Ugh.

"Okay," I call back, and get out of the bed. It was hard. I was exhausted, I had been up all night with nightmares about me being killed, and almost worse, me winning but having to kill Sky, Nik, and Noah. Noah's terrified little face…. Ugh. It was awful.

"Just… focus on today. On now," I tell myself. I take a deep breath, and then put on the clothes left in my dresser. It is a black shirt, stretchy and comfortable, with black pants. They have an orange line running down the outside of the sleeves and pant leg, with the number "12" pinned to the shoulder side.

I fasten my locket around my neck and open it. I smile at the pictures of May and Shayla. But when I see the pictures of my parents, I frown and feel a tear slip out.

Quickly, I make a fist and smash their picture. There. Better.

I walk out to the main room, where Nik is already eating some pancakes. He's wearing the same thing as me. I go over and get some bacon, pancakes, and eggs. Then I sit next to Nik.

He smiles at me and we eat in comfortable silence.

Until Kilee comes.

"Jenik! Kayleen! It's 9:53, the training starts at 10, hurry up!" Kilee wags her finger at us. Weirdo.

I shove my last bite of pancake in my mouth. "Coming!" I say with my mouth full. Her face wrinkles.

"Kayleen, please show some manners," she says haughtily and storms away. "C'mon now, we don't want to be late."

I look back at Jenik and he laughs. We follow Kilee to the elevator, where Summer is waiting for us. She smiles in greeting.

"Kay, Jenik, remember what I said. Survival stations are just as important as weapon stations."

We nod.

"And Jenik, consider a hammer, though. You have a strong build," Summer nods at him and he nods solemnly back.

We arrive on the bottom floor and walk to the training center. The tributes are starting to line up already.

"Oh hurry!" Kilee says quickly and gives us both a little shove. I spot Sky and Noah and wave at them. Sky smiles and waves back.

I stand in the line in front of them, and Jenik stands in front of me. He smiles nervously as Pearl, the trainer lady, stares at us all, sizing us up.

"So you have 3 hours here, today and tomorrow," she starts, gazing over us and stopping her gaze at little Noah. "You are free to go to any station in here, there are survival stations, and weapons station. Don't rule out the survival stations," with that said, she glares at the Career girls. "All right, you may go."

And we disperse. Sky smiles at me gently, Noah stuck to her leg like glue.

"So where are we going first?" Nik asks me.

"Umm… try a survival station, how about all survival today, all weapons tomorrow?" I suggest, and the others nod.

Nik and I head over to the poisonous berries station, while Sky and Noah head to the building fires station. The trainer there looks pleased to see us.

"My name is Talin!" He beams at us. "I work the poisonous berries station, you can see which ones are poisonous, take a test to see how much you know."

"Well can I take the test first? See what I know?" I ask him, and he nods.

"Can I take it too?" Asks Nik. He nods and hands us both a worksheet with pictures and questions. The highest score to get is 100. I get a 96. Jenik gets a 73.

He looks sheepish as he checks his wrong answers on my paper.

"Frankly, I thought I would do worse," he gives me a sheepish smile and I laugh.

Then my chest tightens.

_All of you will be dead except one. And you will most likely be among the dead. At least one of us will die. But if I die….I want Jenik to win._

"Kay? You all right?" Asks Nik, snapping me back to reality.

I blink. Hard. "I'm just fine. It's been about 40 minutes, want to try a different station?"

So we head other to Sky and Noah. Noah can barely made a crackle with matches, while Sky has made a blazing fire with only two pieces of flint and damp wood.

I come up behind her just as her fire blazes up at least a foot in the air.

"Impressive," I say, and she shakes.

"Kay! You scared me," she laughs a little.

"That was the point," I grin at her. "And it is."

"Well I've had some experience," she says quietly. "My family isn't exactly rich, you know."

"Neither is mine. We hunt in the woods for food. Me and my older sister," I tell her. That's why I have knowledge of berries and stuff like that.

"We don't make nearly enough money in our lumber business, Dad tries his best but we have 5 mouths to feed, Mom has to take care of us. I'm the third oldest, the middle child, a boy and girl below me, two girls above me. My oldest sister is a….prostitute, we need the money," Sky tells me softly. "But the two oldest, me and my 17 year old sister Nancy, we still take tesserae."

"I'm so sorry Sky," I tell her truthfully. I thought my District, my family, had it bad, but her family is very unfortunate….

"Let's just back to this," Sky says quickly, running her sleeve over her nose.

I nod, not wanting to embarrass her further, and I make a fire with her, while Nik chats with Noah. I think Nik must have a younger brother too, he's never mentioned one but he's so good with Noah…

Sky just poured out her heart. I figure before I die, someone should know besides Shayla, May, and I. What really happened to Cammy. My baby sister.

"I had…a younger sister," I tell Sky. Her eyes widen at the word "had."

"Oh Kay, what happened?" She asks in horror, with deep pity in her eyes.

"Well she was umm… killed. The officials documented it as illness or something, just another starving kid right? No," I say, my voice staying soft but getting a little angry.

Sky's eyes are as wide as they can go now. "When….when did this happen?!"

"About…3-4 years ago," I say in response. "She would have been turning 10 this year. She was…6 when it happened."

"What…who….killed her?" Sky's voice is barely a breath.

"We were walking home, just me and Cammy…" I started and drifted into the memory.

_"Cammy!" I scold lightly as we walk home in the rain. "Stop stepping in the puddles, you're running your shoes!"_

_She just laughs. "But Kaylee, its fun!" She called me Kaylee. Didn't feel like saying the "n" I guess. It was her special name for me._

_I roll my eyes a little but laugh at the adorable girl. Her eyes are caramel colored, full of life, her skin is shining and healthy, her hair is a dark brown with light streaks. It falls at her chest like mine does. _

_"Look at me Kaylee!" She shrieked with joy as she hopped across the street, landing in every puddle._

_I had to laugh. "C'mon now Cam-"_

_I stopped abruptly as I realized where we were. The rich part of town, where they drove cars and hated poor people. They might throw things at us, the stupid "elite" class._

_"Cammy, its not safe here, we need to go," I call to her from the other side of the street._

_She pouts, but only for a second. "All right, I'm coming!"_

_She started skipping across the street. But not fast enough…._

_The car came out of nowhere._

_"Cammy!" I screamed and ran out into the street, attempting to, I don't know, block the car. But I was too late….._

_The car hit Cammy with so much force she went flying backward, and it didn't even stop…_

_I ran after her, she had flown right into a building. Her broken body lay in the middle of the rubble she had caused._

_"Cammy!" I screamed and ran over to her. I gently picked her up, she was unconscious. "I got you, you're okay!"_

_Then I ran out into the sidewalk and started running home. When I got close, I screamed "Mommy! Daddy! Shayla!" The people I trusted. They ran out of the house, confused, then they saw Cammy._

_We took her to the doctor but the doctor said that she was in a coma, and wouldn't wake up, and in a few hours, her heart would stop working. And that's what happened…_

_My parents never looked at me the same after that, that's why they trust Shayla more than me, Shayla never put Cammy in danger, Shayla never failed to bring home dinner, Shayla didn't blame me for her death but I had failed to save my sister. And I miss her so so much…._

**_Well isn't that nice? (OBVIOUS SARCASM)_**

**_For those of you that guessed that Cammy was her younger sister, good job! You win a cookie. Or some bacon. Your choice._**

**_So I might not post for like a week or so...sorry about that._**

**_I have one other story that I'm already posting, and I posted a one shot that is a story but only if my viewers want it to be, and this week is my last week of school and this weekend I'm going to the beach so I'm busy so I might not have time for writing..._**

**_But I'll try and hopefully I'll be able to update next week! Sorry guys!_**

**_Kate_**

**_P.S. For those of you that also read SNOW THE WINGED GIRL BOOK TWO this news obviously applies to both stories. Again, sorry about that._**


	13. Isn't Lydia a delight? (not really)

I finished my story with a small sob. I quickly stopped, because I can't be seen as a weakling. But I want to cry, let it all out. I tried not to think about her but sometimes the memories snuck in. Like now, for instance.

Sky just hugged me, and I took a moment to collect myself. I noticed the girl Careers smirking at me, so I sent them my meanest look, and they turned away. If looks could kill….I WOULD win the Hunger Games.

Well…. Let's keep going.

I nodded my head at the clock. "Lunchtime."

….

I get some Capitol food, which instead of being the most luxurious food you can find anywhere, it is only high class food. Meat, cheese, bread. But decent and filling all the same.

Once I've grabbed a tray and filled it with some food that looks good and fresh to me, I start toward the table where Nik is sitting. He smiles and waves me over, and I give me a small smile back, but in my way there I'm stopped by the girl tribute from District 4.

She literally steps in my way, blocking me and I almost drop my lunch on her. Then she sort of glares at me. I saw her smile at her reaping, but since then all she has done is scowl, glare, and growl at people.

"Are you Kayleen?" She asks in a surprisingly nice sounding voice.

I nod. "You're….. Lauren?"

"Lydia," she corrects. She studies me, looking me over like my stylists did.

"You're District 12, yet you don't look that bad. Skinny, but also muscular," she notes with a pointed look at me.

I shrug again. "I am bottom class, gotta make some money somehow."

She nods. "I didn't ask for your life story."

Yeah. Because that was definitely my WHOLE life story. I would yell that in her face but she would hurt me, I'm trying to make as little enemies as possible here. So I just nod again.  
"Why are you here? I know you volunteered, but nobody in 12 EVER volunteers. Except for their ONE victor," Lydia added with a sly smile. "You think you'll win?"

"Probably," I say with no concern in my voice. Her eyes narrow.

"Well I'm here because I wanted to be, I was called but I would have volunteered next year anyway, for my family, my dad was a stupid teenager, had a kid at 17. Went in at 18. Died. Wasn't even close to winning, he got like 6th. I came here to show that my family isn't weak, like him. I will win, and bring pride to my family, since that bastard obviously forgot to," her eyes are flaming with rage now and I take a small, soft step back. She doesn't even notice as I walk away.

…

"What did she want?" Nik asks me, his eyes angry.

"I look at him in surprise. "Nik, calm down. And she just ranted about how she was here because her father died in the Games and he was a loser and she wants to win to "bring pride" to her family."

Nik snorted. "There are a lot of ways to getting pride, and frankly, I don't think the Hunger Games should be one of them."

I nod in agreement. "Yeah well not like we really wanted to team with her anyway."

Sky plops her tray down, Noah following suit. "Hey guys what's up?"

"Hey Sky, Noah," Nik smiles at them and I nod in greeting.

"So what are you guys talking about?" Asks Sky.

"Girl from Two told me her life story," I tell her and start eating, I really AM hungry.

Sky cracks a smile but Noah looks upset.

"Noah what's wrong?" Nik asks him. I think he has a soft spot for Noah, maybe because he's younger? But only a year younger than Sky and I.  
"I just wish I wasn't going to die," Noah says softly and I realize this is the first time I've heard his voice.

Sky wraps her arm around him. Doesn't bother telling him he'll be okay, he has a very low chance of making it out. Just comforts him and his breathing becomes normal, and he calms slightly.

"Nicole would thank you a lot for calming me down," Noah breathes softly to Sky.

She smiles slightly. "Wish I could see her again. But I won't be going home."

"C'mon guys, you're such downers!" I interject.

Noah shrugs. "We're just not going to lie to ourselves."

"If you tell yourself something will happen, it will EVENTUALLY happen," I counter. "So if you tell yourself that you're going to die, you'll die but if you think that you might win, you JUST MIGHT get out of these Games alive…."

"Well that's easy for you to say, you're actually decent," cuts in Nik.

I look at him in shock. "Yeah right."

Sky and Noah nod in agreement. I just look at them in shock.

"Really?" I ask again. They nod. I just shrug.

"Well that's your opinion," I say indifferently.

"Kay if you think you're going to die," starts Nik with a grin.

"Then you actually will die but…" continues Sky with a smile.

"If you believe that you can win," pipes up Noah with a smile.

"You just might get out of these games alive," they all chorus together and I actually laugh.

God I can't believe….. I wish the Games didn't exist. But I can't do anything…..

I can't save Noah, I can't do anything about that bitch Lydia, and I have to kill people?!

"_Calm down," I tell myself and take a deep breath._

"Earth to Kay…" Nik says gently, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"I'm fine, continue," I say, in a bored tone but he doesn't notice.

He continues talking to Noah and Sky, but Sky isn't really listening. She mouths "_I'm sorry" _at me again but I shake my head. She must think I'm remembering Cammy.

That isn't why I'm….. wait, am I crying? I feel under my eyes and a few tears have leaked out. I quickly wipe them away, and start eating. Eating chicken in some sort of gravy, gathering up the remaining gravy in the bread made with actual flour.

Sky starts talking, a smile gradually coming to her face as Noah and Nik listen. I try to look like I'm listening, it probably didn't work though. Throughout lunch, I just eat and stay quiet.

**_So I lied a little! Posted a quick little chappie before I left on to go to the beach!_**

**_So I know it's short, but I'll try to post something longer next week. Okay? Don't kill me. (that means you Johanna!)_**

**_So yeah, thanks to all the peoples who reviewed, and please do review, if you haven't already. And if you have reviewed, review more. :D_**

**_Kate_**


	14. Why I chose knives

…

"So…. Weapons?" Nik questions me as we walk over to the after lunch stations.

I nod. "Sure." My voice sounds a little rusty.

He nods and heads over to find a hammer, like Summer told him. I head over to the knives, and I gasp in delight. I know, it's horrible for me to gasp in delight at the sight of weapons, but they're BEAUTIFUL.

Diamond studded handles, shiny silver blades. They look AWESOME. My sadness fades away as I eagerly reach for one. It feels right in my hand. I grab another. One is a silver blade, with a ruby studded handle. The other is a golden blade, with a plain dark leather handle with indentation for my fingers. I head over to the targets, shaped like humans.

I head back 60 feet away and hear a scoff. I turn instantly, seeing the boy from 3. He shoots me a doubtful look.

"Yeah right," he says. "In District 12, you couldn't have possibly come into contact with knives of this sort. I'd like to see you try."

I frown at him. "Says the boy from District 3? What are you going to do, tell someone how to put together a phone so that they won't kill you?"

It's mean, but it gets my point across. With an annoyed look on his face, he heads over to the disabled boy in a wheelchair from 2. His name is Avon, I think. And the boy from District One. The little kid who almost cried at the reaping? Kyle? Are they planning an alliance or something? Wow, I'm SO scared.

With a snort, I turn back to the target, a knife in each hand.

I I take a few deep breaths, in…. out…. In…. out…. And on the fourth one, on my exhale, I lean forward and release the knife. It flies through the air, hitting the target right in the heart.

Shows how much the boy from 3 knows. I turn and throw the other one, hitting the target in the head. Another direct kill.

I turn triumphantly and realize that a lot of people are watching me. Jenik smiles at me and comes over.

"Nice throwing," he says with a smile and I smile back.

"Thanks," I say and shoot a glare at the "alliance" with the boys from 1, 2, and 3. They look surprised and I feel like laughing. So I do.

Then Nik and I head over to the hammer station, where dummies pop up and you hit them with the hammer. He is scored on a scale from 1-10 for accuracy, speed, and strength.

"Go Jenik!" I cheer as he starts, a look of extreme concentration on his face. After a few moments, I detect a presense behind me and turn.

_"Quota," my mind registers her name._

_The daughter of District 11's mayor._

"Hi," she says with a nod at Nik. "He your friend?"

"District partner and ally," I say with no emotion in my voice. She looks at him for a few seconds.

"He's good," she notes with a small smile. "You are too, as I noticed…. Good with a knife. Personally, I like a spear."

"And you're telling me because…..?" I ask expectantly.

"We could be allies," she says casually. "You, Jenik, me, and Rust. Maybe Matthew for the sponsors, I haven't asked him yet."

_"Accept, the more allies the better," I think. But the more allies I make….. the more friends I'll have to kill. The more friends that will be killed. So….._

"No thanks, Jenik and I already have an alliance planned," I say firmly. "But good luck to you, in the arena."

She raises her eyebrows. "Fair enough. I guess I'll see you in the arena, Kayleen."

And with that, she is gone. Then Sky and Noah run up.

"Hey Kay!" She and Noah wave at me.

"We saw you and Jenik head in here, how's he doing?" Noah asks.

Oh I forgot about Jenik. I quickly turn and he's gone already.

"Oh he took the hammer test," I say quickly. "I guess he's gone to see his score?" We walk around the station and quickly find him, looking at his score on a piece of computer paper.

"Hey Jenik!" We call but he doesn't look up.

I run over first and tap him. "Nik, how'd you do?"

_**CLIFF HANGER! :D**_

_**Yes, I'm a jerk. So do you think Jenik did good or bad? Was denying Quota the right decision?**_

_**And of anyone had an idea for the arena, tell me because right now, I'm still a little unsure about the arena.**_

_**So any ideas would be appreciated. :D**_

_**Thanks guys! For reading my story and stuff! I really hope you like it!**_

_**From,**_

_**Kate**_


	15. Not bad Noah

He holds up his paper in answer. "9 in speed, 9 in accuracy, 10 in strength."

"Whoa that's awesome!" Noah exclaims in awe and he smiles.

"I guess it is pretty awesome," he agrees and high fives Noah.

I give him a fist bump, as does Sky, and then Nik and I turn to them.

"So how'd you do? What weapons?" Nik asks. Noah's face falls.

"I didn't want to learn any weapons…." He says.

Sky wraps her arms around his small shoulders. "He doesn't want to hurt anyone…."

"Well that's understandable, but you have to defend yourself, don't you?" I say.

He sighs, then nods. "All right, I'll use knives or something."

"Well I can help you out with knives," I point out and Sky smiles.

"Thanks for the offer, Kay," Sky pipes up, her eyes shining. "I like bows myself, but Noah didn't give me a chance to try any."

"Well why don't you go and I'll help out Noah?" I suggest. "Nik can go with you."

"Sure," Nik agrees and she smiles.

"Great, thanks guys!" Then she runs off, Nik running after her.

…..

"Okay so first, you should pick one," I say to Noah with a small smile, showing him the row of beautiful knives. He looks them over.

"I like this one," he replies after a minute and chooses one with a sharp silver blade, and a dark blue leather handle with sapphires making indentations for your fingers. As he picks it up, I see that it seems to fit right in his hand.

"Okay Noah, so let's start a little closer than I did," I say and stand about 15 feet away from a target. He follows me and stands next to me.

"Okay so now, make sure that it's comfortable in your hand," I say and he turns it over, then turns it back, finding a comfortable position after a few seconds. I smile; it's the same position I use, fingers curled over it, pointing in, thumb tucked, blade pointing forward.

"Okay so bend your knees a little," I say and he does, but too much.

"A little less," I say and he gets in the right position.

"Okay so now bend back a little," he does and I smile.

"Okay so now you're about to throw it, listen to my instructions first, then try, okay?" He nods and I look at the target then back at him, making sure that he is aligned.

"Okay so put your left foot back because you're throwing with your right hand, your left foot should be pointing to your left, then roll back on your heel before lunging forward and releasing the knife, okay? And make sure your arm doesn't stop mid throw, just let it go with the knife, okay?"

He looks a little panicked, then nods, an expression of confidence on his face.

"You can practice the position first, if you want, without throwing it," I point out, and he nods.

"Yeah I need to practice first," he agrees and starts muttering to himself, going through the positions. At first it looks clumsy, but finally he manages to get the right position and he takes another deep breath.

"You're ready Noah," I call out and he nods.

Then he lines up, bends his knees, pulls back, and then lunges forward, releasing the knife and getting a direct hit on the heart of the target. It's a really good throw.

"Nice throw Noah!" I call out, complimenting him, but he suddenly falls to his knees, gurgling slightly.

"Noah!" I open my mouth but the voice isn't mine, it's Sky, running over.

"Sky! Why did he-" She raises a hand to stop me, and holds Noah, trying to calm him.

"I know it wasn't your fault Kay, that was a great shot too but he can't- Noah never liked violence, Nicole, his older sister and my best friend, always said that even seeing violence would hurt him he doesn't like it, something in his body hurts him!" Sky explained.

I run over to Noah and he's started shaking, Sky wrapped her arms around him and tried to stop him from shaking but it's not working.

Nik, who was with her I guess, also runs over and tried talking to Noah, finally Noah stops and just whimpers softly.

"Sky I don't want to kill anyone and I don't want anyone to kill me," he whimpers.

She hugged him closer, sitting next to him on the floor.

"I know, I don't either, nobody WANTS to kill someone else, maybe in self-defense but you'd still feel bad, except for maybe the Careers. That's why we should stay away from them," Sky said with a slightly annoyed look towards the girls from One, and Two, and both from Four.

"I don't want anyone to kill me," Noah shivered, even though it was hot in the training room. "And I don't want to kill anyone."

Sky looked at him sadly. She couldn't tell him that he wouldn't kill anyone, or that he wouldn't die. Because the odds were not in his favor.

"Noah, just…. Try your best, okay?" She said halfheartedly and he shrugged.

"Sky, I want to go home and see Nicole again," he said sadly. "And see my parents."

At the word **_parents, _**I visibly shuddered and grabbed the locket around my neck, opening it and seeing the broken pictures of my parents.

"Calm down, calm down, calm down," I muttered very quietly to myself. I probably looked like a psycho, in retrospect.

Nik glanced at me in concern. He knows my parents didn't come.

"Kay calm down," he said softly and I nod, trying to block the flow of memories that start coming but to no avail.

_"Bitch! Your fault that Cammie's dead! Terrible excuse for a daughter! If we didn't have Shayla we'd probably kill ourselves, rather than be stuck with you!"_

_"Mommy, Daddy….." the 10 year old me retreated from my sorry excuses for parents, as they shouted insults at me. And…beat me._

_But never when Shayla was there. Never when Shayla was there._

_In her eyes, I was still her little sister and she loved me, but she also never saw the bad in my parents. They wanted me to volunteer in the Games last year but I was much too scared. So they wanted me take extra tesserae this year, and tried to make sure Shayla took none. But Shayla refused, and took it, and wouldn't let me get any. That got me hit a few more times…_

_When she was called, they glared at me. If I didn't volunteer and Shayla died in the Games they would have made my life a living hell. But I didn't volunteer because of that. I volunteered because I love Shayla. And if I manage to get out of here alive…..I'll be overjoyed to see my sister and best friend again. But if I don't…. at least my parents love Shayla. They'll probably celebrate my death. Shayla probably found out that they hate me now._

_I thought….something would change if I was actually called for the Games but I guess not…..I thought that they would at least have the decency to see me off. But I was wrong._

_And I refuse to be wrong again._

"Kay! Kayleen!" Nik is shaking me.

I shake my head quickly, clearing it of the memories.

"Sorry, got lost in thought," I say apologetically and he nods and releases me, but doesn't look that convinced.

Sky looks sad. "Was it something we said, Kay?" Noah's in a bad enough mode already, no need to worsen it.

"No I'm fine, not your fault, just got lost in thought for a few minutes," I say again and notice Noah staring at me intently.

"So….. Sky, how'd you do?" I blurt out, changing the subject.

Nik's face lights up. "She's AMAZING with a bow and arrow, she can hit the target from as far away as you Kay!"

"Whoa really?" I exclaim in awe and she blushes.

"Maybe…." She mutters.

"See? I KNEW you'd be an awesome ally!" I exclaim in success and she smiles.

"Thanks Kay," she beams.

Noah smiles. "You really are, I've seen you around Daisy's place before, you could hit an ACORN from 50 feet away!"

I whistle in appreciation. "Damn Sky!"

She laughs a little. "I don't know if I'm that good, but…."

Nik pats her on the back. "After seeing you shoot, **_I _**believe it."

She opened her mouth to speak again when another voice joined ours.


	16. Let's see how Sky's doing

SKY POV: (so that you can see how good she is using a bow)

"Great, thanks guys!" I exclaim and run away, hearing Jenik's footsteps coming after me.

"Hurry up!" I yell behind me and run faster, I know exactly where they are, we passed them and they looked SO cool, I would have stayed but I had to look after Noah…..

Finally, they came into view. Even though I had seen them before, I gasped in admiration. Behind me, Jenik whistled in appreciation.

There were at least 20 bows, colored silver, red, blue, purple, white, there were sparkles, jewels like diamonds, opals, rubies, sapphires, they were INCREDIBLE!

And I knew exactly which one I wanted.

Laughing like a little kid with Jenik in tow, I ran past a bunch before coming to the one I had seen before, the one I wanted.

It was a simple bow by some standards, it was a silvery color with sparkles, in a crescent shape. It also had a blurred purple color going through it, shaped in a lightning bolt.

"Awesome…" I breathed and ran to it, slinging it over my shoulder and picking up its matching set of arrows, which had the same colors as the bow.

"That one's really cool," Jenik noted and I nodded.

"I've had my eye on it," I replied and headed over to the targets, standing about 60 feet away, like Kay had.

Then I reached up, feeling the comfortable position I had always assumed with a bow. I let 3 arrows fly, one hitting the heart, one hitting the brain, and one going through the first arrow, splitting it in half.

Jenik gasped. "Whoa, that was AWESOME!"

I smiled. "Thanks Jenik!"

"Have you done it before? You HAVE to of done it before," he said.

I smiled. "Yeah I took archery lessons at home, most people from 7 like an axe, but I never liked them, there's a really nice oldish lady that gave out free archery lessons, in case kids had to go into the games."

"Was she in the Hunger Games or something?" Jenik questioned. "It's only the 30th one, after all…."

I shook my head. "No. Her daughter was in the 1st one."

"Oh….." he muttered sadly and I nodded.

"Yeah she's really nice, she's about 70 now," I said, thinking about Daisy. Her daughter, Melody, had died in the 1st Hunger Games at the age of 14.

Jenik nodded. "So you want to go back to Kay and see how she's doing? With Noah?"

He looked sad. Probably my fault. I nodded and put the bow down.

"Let's go then."

_**Okay so I'm leaving on vacation TONIGHT. For a week.**_

_**So I posted two chapters, one is really short, just a quick Sky POV so you can see her Katniss Everdeen skills and some more backstory.**_

_**So I hope you guys like the chapters, sorry that I'll be gone, thanks to all my reviewers;**_

_**angieortiz733, MaximumRider99, JohannaReads, thatgirl, EverlarkCatoniss, DalekSoup, and princesslolitatheorca654.**_

_**And of course, all my viewers, over 650 views, thanks for all the views. Hopefully we can get up to 30 reviews for these two chapters?**_

_**From,**_

_**Kate**_


	17. Dissapointment!

_**Its not a chapter. Get over it.**_

_**It's an Author's Note. Because I wanted 30 reviews. Then I left for a week. I had 27. Pretty sure I started with like 26. If you guys really want to me to update, you have to review.**_

_**I will apologize to JoannaReads, because she really wants to read a new chapter and she reviewed and stuff, but I need 3 more reviews. Then I'll update. Seems fair to me.**_

_**SO REVIEW PLZ!**_

_**Kate**_


	18. And Kilee doesn't seem so bad after all

…

"Jenik! Kayleen! It's time to go back to our apartment, the Training Center is closing!" Chirped Kilee from across the room, clicking over in her high heels.

I groaned. "Kilee, you're embarrassing us in front of our friends."

Sky, Nik, and even Noah snickered as she turned a little red. Then another voice joined us.

"Sky-Lar, Noa-Ha?" A woman in her late fifties strode over to us. She had light blue skin, more piercings than I could count, and probably more that I couldn't see. Her hair was a dark blue-green, almost a teal color, and her eyes were crimson, practically blood colored.

Sky rolled her eyes. "It's Sky-LER, and No-AH."

"Whatever children," she replied. Then she turned to us.

"Ah Kilee! So nice to see you!" The woman beamed. She had the thickest Capitol accent I had ever heard.

Kilee smiled at her. "So nice to see you ma'am." She turned to us.

"Kayleen, Jenik, this is Cora. Cora, this is Jenik, Kayleen."

She nodded curtly at us and Jenik nodded back. I just stared at her. Her eyes narrowed at me before turning back to Kilee.

"So Kilee, how are your tributes this year? Hmm?" She asked Kilee and started walking towards the elevators. We reluctantly followed, annoyed that we were basically given babysitters.

"Oh!" Kilee clapped her hands in delight. "I think we've got real winners this year, we haven't even had a chance since Summer won. All underfed, dirty kids. And you, Cora?"

Cora shrugged a little. "Nothing special, the girl might make it decently far. I doubt the boy will even make it out of the bloodbath."

Like we weren't walking right behind them, listening. Noah stiffened at her words and Sky sent a killer glare her way.

"Don't even try, I can arrange to have your family killed. Just. Like. That," Cora threatened, snapping her fingers with the last three words.

Sky stiffened and dropped her gaze, but tightened her hug around Noah. Cora smiled, satisfied, and continued talking to Kilee. Kilee looked a little upset though….

Maybe we were lucky to get Kilee after all…..

We stepped into the elevator, the six of us, and Cora pressed the '7' button, and the elevator shot up to the seventh floor, silent except for the slight clack of gears.

When we reached the floor, the door opened with a slight 'ding!' and Cora got out first.  
"Come on children, Sky-Lar, Noa-Ha!" Cora said sharply and they rolled their eyes but followed her into the apartment, which I noticed, was not as nice as ours. We had the penthouse, 12th floor after all.

Kilee put on a smile and waved as the door closed, leaving the 3 of us alone in the elevator. Then she did something that really surprised Nik and I.

"I hate her!" Kilee squealed. "She has no respect at all, for anyone, she treats everyone like they're below her, like trash, and I guess some people ARE deserving of it, but not me! Not the tributes that are actually skilled! I saw the girl hit the target with a bow and arrow, and the boy hit the center with the knife. She has no right to treat them that way!"

She seemed to realize that we were right there, and she blushed.

"Wow that was a little cruel, I-"

I waved her off. "Nope she deserves it. Seems like a bitch to me." Nik nodded in agreement and Kilee blushed.

"But still, I-"

"Don't even bother," Nik cut in. "She doesn't seem like a person deserving of an apology."

Kilee shrugs unhappily. "She's my mom."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Nik pressed the '12' button as casually as he could, but anyone could see the surprise on his face.

"Yeah she won't let me call her Mom she's so condescending, but I shouldn't insult her. After all, she IS my mother," Kilee said with a sigh. I felt….. kinda bad for her. Of course, my family life wasn't exactly great either…..

I just shrugged and turned away. Jenik patted her shoulder.

"Well even though we're all starving to death in District 12, at least our parents aren't as bad as yours," Jenik said, sounding neutral.

"You wanna bet on that?" I mouthed at him and he shook his head 'no', bringing a small smile to my face.

Kilee just nodded, not saying anything.

"Well just… ignore her as best as you can," I said lamely and got out as the elevator let out a small 'DING', indicating that we had reached our floor.

"We should….. eat dinner," Kilee said, straightening up and assuming her normal self before following me into the apartment.

Nik nodded and walked into the dining room, where he took a seat at the table. Kilee sat across from him, and I sat next to him. Soon, Summer joined us.

"So how's the hammer working out for you?" She asked Jenik with a smile.

Jenik smiled back. "Good, I think."

I snorted. "You think? You did incredible with it!"

He shrugs, while Summer looks interested. "Really? What was your score?"

"9, 9, and 10," he answers, knowing she knows the order for categories.

She wolf whistled. "Wow Jenik, that's awesome!"

He smiled. "Yeah. Thanks."

She smiled even bigger. "I just had a gut feeling!"

I had never seen Summer this happy. Neither had Jenik. He looked really surprised.

"Wow Summer, never seen you this excited!" Jenik smiled.

Summer suddenly stiffened, like being happy was a bad thing.

"Maybe I'll be this happy if one of you wins," she said stiffly, causing Jenik to wince and me to avert my eyes.

Let's start dinner shall we?

**_I hit 30 reviews! :D_**

**_As promised, here is your chapter, don't expect anything from me again for like a week though, gotta give me time to write of course!_**

**_So thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are the reason I write!_**

**_Thanks for reading my story, hope you like it and all that shit. :D_**

**_And a hint for the next chapter, it's a POV we haven't seen before..._**

**_BACKSTORY TIME! :D_**

**_Kate_**


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